Frederick M. Ellis

Frederick Melvin "Fish" Ellis (February 26, 1906 – July 19, 1967) was an American sportsman who has played football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was also an athletics coach, administrator, and university professor. He served as the head football coach at Tufts University from 1946 to 1953, compiling a record of 25–34–6. Ellis was also the head basketball coach at Tufts from 1946 to 1953, tallying a mark of 74–75. He is the namesake of Tufts University's home football field, Ellis Oval.

Ellis was born in 1906 in Norwood, Massachusetts. His family moved to Gloucester and then to Medford, where Ellis attended Medford High School, graduating in 1925. He entered Tufts University that fall, majoring in civil engineering. Ellis lettered in four sports—football, basketball, baseball, and track—at Tufts, from which he graduated in 1929. He was the first Tufts student to earn varsity letters in four sports. Ellis played quarterback on the football team from 1926 to 1928, and scored a school-record 181 points. His punt of 76 yards in 1927 was also the longest in Tufts history.

Ellis died of a heart attack at the age of 61 on July 19, 1967 at his home in Burlington, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife, Dorothea, and couple's two daughters, Faith and Susan, who both graduated from Tufts. The football field at Tufts University was named in his honor as Frederick M. Ellis Oval at homecoming in 1969. The "Frederick M. Ellis Prize Scholarship" at Tufts is named in his memory.

Football